Refrigerator having cooling air leakage preventing member

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a refrigerator having a cooling air leakage preventing member, the refrigerator including refrigerator a cabinet providing a storage space, a pair of doors disposed at right and left sides of a front surface of the cabinet and coupled to the cabinet by hinges, a cooling air leakage preventing member rotatably mounted to a free end portion of one of the doors and disposed longitudinal to the door, the cooling air leakage preventing member having a guide protrusion, and a guide installed at the cabinet and having a guide groove engaged with the guide protrusion upon opening or closing the door so as to rotate the cooling air leakage preventing member.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a cooling airleakage preventing member, and particularly, to a refrigerator having amember for preventing (or minimizing) cooling air from being leakedbetween doors of the refrigerator.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a refrigerator includes a cabinet (or main body) providing aspace functioning as a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, anddoors for opening and closing each of the freezing chamber and therefrigerating chamber. Here, each chamber is typically provided with asingle door, but for a large refrigerator used for a specific purpose,two doors may be installed at one freezing or refrigerating chamber.Such structure has been employed in home refrigerators in recent time,in which demands on the large refrigerator increase, as well as therefrigerator used for the specific purpose.

With this structure, in order to make two doors smoothly rotated to beopen or closed, a preset gap should be present between the two doors.However, such gap may cause leakage of cooling air therethrough, so amember for preventing (or minimizing) the leakage of the cooling airthrough the gap is needed. To this end, a cooling air leakage preventingmember is installed at an end portion of one of the two doors to extendin a longitudinal direction of the door.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a refrigeratorhaving such cooling air leakage preventing member. Referring to FIG. 1,a refrigerator 100 includes a cabinet (or main body) 102 having arefrigerating chamber 104 occupying the entire upper portion thereof,and a pair of doors 110 and 110′ coupled to the cabinet 102 by hingesfor opening and closing a front surface of the refrigerating chamber104. A gasket 112 is mounted onto an inner side surface of each door 110and 110′ for close contact between the cabinet 102 and each door 110 and110′.

Also, a cooling air leakage preventing member 120 in a bar shapeextending in a longitudinal direction of the refrigerator is installedat a free end side of one of the doors 110 and 110′. The cooling airleakage preventing member 120 has one end rotatably mounted onto thedoor 110 via an elastic connection means 122. In the closed state of thetwo doors 110 and 110′, the cooling air leakage preventing member 120comes in contact with the gasket of another door 110′ to prevent (orminimize) the leakage of the cooling air between the doors 110 and 110′.

Here, the door is capable of being open only when the cooling airleakage preventing member 120, as shown in FIG. 1, is disposedlongitudinal to the door. Accordingly, there is provided a guide 130mounted to an upper portion of the cabinet 102 for locating the coolingair leakage preventing member 120 as shown in FIG. 1 when opening thedoor, and locating the cooling air leakage preventing member 120 at alevel with the door when closing the door.

FIG. 2 is a planar view showing a structure of the guide. Referring toFIG. 2, the guide 130 includes a stopper 132 and a guide groove 134. Aguide protrusion 124 formed at an upper end portion of the cooling airleakage preventing member 120 is inserted in the guide groove 134 toallow rotation of the cooling air leakage preventing member 120. Indetail, When a door is closed in a state where the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 is longitudinal to the door, the guide protrusion124 is inserted into the guide groove 134 to be guided, thereby allowingthe rotation of the cooling air leakage preventing member 120.

On the other hand, when the door is open, the guide protrusion 124 isstopped at the stopper 132 such that the cooling air leakage preventingmember 120 rotates into the state shown in FIG. 1.

The employment of the cooling air leakage preventing member 120 canenhance space utility of the refrigerating chamber and prevent leakageof cooling air. However, this type of cooling air leakage preventingmember is in danger of damages. That is, when the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 is rotated into a state parallel to the door 110by an external force under the open state of the door 110 (see FIG. 3),upon closing the door, the guide protrusion 124 may collide with thestopper 132. Consequently, the door may not be closed properly, and inmore serious cases, the door may be broken.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem

Therefore, to address the problems of the related art, an object of thepresent invention is to provide a refrigerator, whose doors are allowedto be smoothly closed even if a cooling air leakage preventing member isnot in a fixed position.

Solution to Problem

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with one aspectof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein,there is provided a refrigerator including a cabinet providing a storagespace, a pair of doors disposed at right and left sides of a frontsurface of the cabinet and coupled to the cabinet by hinges, a coolingair leakage preventing member rotatably mounted to a free end portion ofone of the doors and disposed longitudinal to the door, the cooling airleakage preventing member having a guide protrusion, and a guideinstalled at the cabinet and having a guide groove engaged with theguide protrusion upon opening or closing the door so as to rotate thecooling air leakage preventing member, wherein the cooling air leakagepreventing member is rotatable between a first position for sealing agap between the pair of doors, and a second position of being engagedinto the guide groove, wherein the guide further comprises a restrictingmember for expanding an inlet of the guide groove responsive to contactwith the guide protrusion when the door is closed in a state where thecooling air leakage preventing member is at the first position.

In the one aspect of the present invention, when the guide protrusion isbumped into a side wall of the guide, the inlet of the guide groove isallowed to be extended, thereby preventing (or minimizing) occurrence ofproblems, such as damage on the guide member, improper closing of thedoor and the like.

Here, the restricting member may be located at a side wall of the inletside of the guide groove. The restricting member may include a stoppermounted to be movable into the guide, and an elastic member for applyingan elastic force to maintain a protruded state of the stopper. Here, thestopper may allow the guide groove to perform its original function withmaintaining the external protruded state thereof when no external forceis applied by the elastic member. When the stopper is bumped against theguide protrusion, the stopper may be allowed to be moved into the guideso as to render the guide protrusion inserted into the guide groove.

Here, the stopper may configure a part of the side wall of the inletside of the guide groove.

The stopper may be mounted in the guide to be movable in a longitudinaldirection of the door. In this case, a front surface of the stopper mayconfigure an inclination surface.

Besides, the stopper may be mounted in the guide to be rotatable basedupon a rotational shaft in parallel to the longitudinal direction of thedoor.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

In accordance with the aspects of the present invention with theconfiguration, even when the door is closed in a state where the coolingair leakage preventing member is not at a fixed position, the inlet ofthe guide groove is extended by virtue of the restricting unit, therebyallowing the guide protrusion to be smoothly engaged into the guidegroove without impact, resulting in preventing (or minimizing) the doorfrom being closed properly or the cooling air leakage preventing memberfrom being damaged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exemplary embodiment of arefrigerator having a cooling air leakage preventing member;

FIG. 2 is a planar view showing a guide of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a planar view showing a state where a guide protrusion comesin contact with (or is bumped into) a guide;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an exemplary embodiment of arefrigerator having a cooling air leakage preventing member inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing a guide of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of the guideshown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an operational state of theembodiment shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a planar view showing another embodiment of the guide; and

FIG. 9 is a planar view showing an operational state of the guide shownin FIG. 8.

MODE FOR THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications and variations can be made in the presentinvention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

Description will now be given in detail of a refrigerator having acooling air leakage preventing member in accordance with exemplaryembodiments according to the present invention, with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing one exemplary embodiment of arefrigerator in accordance with the present invention. Here, for thesake of brief description with reference to the drawings, the same orequivalent components to those shown in FIG. 1 will be provided with thesame reference numbers, and description thereof will not be repeated.

Referring to FIG. 4, two doors 110 and 110′ may be installed at a frontsurface of a refrigerating chamber 104, and a cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 may be rotatably mounted to the door 110 presentat a left side. FIG. 4 shows that the cooling air leakage preventingmember 120 is disposed perpendicular to the door 110. The position isreferred to as a second position for the sake of explanation. Thecooling air leakage preventing member 120 may alternately be disposed inparallel to the door 110. In this case, the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 may come closely in contact with a gasket of thedoor 110′ present at a right side so as to seal a gap between the twodoors 110 and 110′, and this position is referred to as a firstposition.

In the meantime, a guide 230 may be installed near an upper end portionof the refrigerating chamber 104. Here, the guide 230 does not have tobe installed only in the refrigerating chamber 104. Alternatively, theguide 230 may be installed in a freezing chamber or the like when twoside-by-side type doors are installed at one space.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the guide 230. As shown inFIG. 5, a guide groove 234 may be formed at a lower surface of the guide230 such that a guide protrusion 124 formed on the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 is inserted therein. The guide groove 234 mayslantingly extend from a right side of a front surface of the guide 230to a left side of a rear surface of the guide 230, and be provided withan inlet for allowing engagement with the guide protrusion 124.

A stopper 232 may be disposed at a left side of the inlet. The stopper232 may be installed to be slidable into the guide 230, and the slidingdirection is in parallel to a longitudinal direction of the door 110. Afront surface 232 a of the stopper 232 may form an inclination surface.The inlet may be present between the stopper 232 and a right barrier236, which define a width of the inlet.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an internal structure of the guide230. As shown in FIG. 6, a space 238 for accommodation of the stopper232 may be formed in the guide 230, and fixing flanges 232 b may beformed at a lower surface of the stopper 232. The width of the space 238may be the same as or slightly wider than a width between the fixingflanges 232 b, thereby allowing the stopper 232 to be smoothly slidablewithin the space 238. In addition, a coil spring 250 may be disposed ata lower surface of the fixing flanges 232 b such that the stopper 232can be kept in a protruded state.

In addition, a cover 240 may be secured with the lower surface of theguide 230 so as to allow insertion of the stopper 232 into the space238. In some cases, the cover 240 may be omitted.

Hereinafter, an operation of the exemplary embodiment will be describedwith reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a planar view showing an operationof closing the door 120 in a state where the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 is present at the first position. At the firstposition, the guide protrusion 124 formed on the cooling air leakagepreventing member 120 comes in contact with a front surface of thestopper 232. In this state, if the door 110 is further rotated, theguide protrusion 124 pushes the front surface of the stopper 232 withstronger pressure, and such pressure makes the stopper 232 slidupwardly.

Here, the inclination surface of the stopper 232 may serve to convertthe pressure applied from the guide protrusion 124 in the horizontaldirection into pressure applied in a longitudinal direction. Once thestopper 232 is slid into the guide 230, the inlet is accordinglyextended, whereby the guide protrusion 124 can be inserted into theguide groove 234. Hence, the cooling air leakage preventing member 120can be inserted into the guide groove 234 even at the first position,resulting in preventing (or minimizing) the door from being closedproperly or the cooling air leakage preventing member 120 from beingdamaged due to impacts.

When the door in the closed state is open, the stopper 232 serves toprevent separation of the guide protrusion 124. Accordingly, the guideprotrusion 124 moves along a rear surface of the stopper 232 so as torotate the cooling air leakage preventing member 120 to the secondposition.

Meanwhile, the stopper 232 does not always have to be slid in thelongitudinal direction. Alternatively, the stopper 232 may be configuredto be slidable in parallel to a bottom surface of the refrigerator. Inthis case, the stopper 232 may be slid in parallel at the surface of theguide to extend the inlet.

Also, the stopper 232 does not always have to perform a sliding motion.Another embodiment may be considered in which the stopper 232 rotates toextend the inlet.

FIG. 8 is a planar view showing another embodiment of the guide.Referring to FIG. 8, a guide 330 may include a guide groove 334 forguiding the guide protrusion therein. A stopper 332 may be disposed atone side of an inlet of the guide groove 334. A barrier 336 present at aposition facing the stopper 332 may define the width of the inlettogether with the stopper 332.

The stopper 332 may be rotatably mounted in a horizontal direction withrespect to the guide 330 by virtue of a hinge shaft 340. Here, a stopper338 for restricting a rotating range of the stopper 332 may be formed ata front surface of the guide 330. The stopper 338 may come in contactwith the front surface of the stopper 332 so as to restrict the stopper332 from being protruded outside the guide 330. Also, a front endportion 332 a of the stopper 332 may be in a round form, therebypreventing (or minimizing) the guide protrusion from being caught at thefront end portion 332 a during operation.

FIG. 9 is a planar view showing a rotated state of the stopper 332responsive to a contact with the guide protrusion. Referring to FIG. 9,when the guide protrusion presses the front surface of the stopper 332,the stopper 332 rotates in a clockwise direction in FIG. 9 to beinserted into the guide 330. Accordingly, the width of the inlet isextended, which allows the guide protrusion to be inserted into theguide groove 334.

In the meantime, FIG. 9 exemplarily shows, but not limited to, theconfiguration that the stopper rotates in parallel to the surface of theguide. Alternatively, the stopper may rotate in a direction longitudinalto the surface of the guide. In this case, the hinge shaft 340 may belocated in parallel to the surface of the guide.

1. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet providing a storage space; apair of doors disposed at right and left sides of a front surface of thecabinet and coupled to the cabinet by hinges; a cooling air leakagepreventing member rotatably mounted to a free end portion of one of thedoors and disposed longitudinal to the door, the cooling air leakagepreventing member having a guide protrusion; and a guide installed atthe cabinet and having a guide groove engaged with the guide protrusionupon opening or closing the door so as to rotate the cooling air leakagepreventing member, wherein the cooling air leakage preventing member isrotatable between a first position for sealing a gap between the pair ofdoors, and a second position of being engaged into the guide groove,wherein the guide further comprises a restricting member for expandingan inlet of the guide groove responsive to contact with the guideprotrusion when the door is closed in a state where the cooling airleakage preventing member is at the first position.
 2. The refrigeratorof claim 1, wherein the restricting member is located at a side wall ofthe inlet side of the guide groove.
 3. The refrigerator of claim 2,wherein the restricting member comprises; a stopper mounted to bemovable into the guide; and an elastic member for applying an elasticforce to maintain a protruded state of the stopper.
 4. The refrigeratorof claim 3, wherein the stopper configures a part of a side wall of theinlet side of the guide groove.
 5. The refrigerator of claim 4, whereinthe stopper is mounted in the guide to be movable in a longitudinaldirection of the door.
 6. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein a frontsurface of the stopper configures an inclination surface.
 7. Therefrigerator of claim 4, wherein the stopper is mounted in the guide tobe rotatable based upon a rotational shaft in parallel to thelongitudinal direction of the door.